James Burleigh
Well-known member
Bullshit!I’m going to approach this from a different direction, the one I learned skiing, which can pose the same issues. It seems to be a natural inclination to fall into ego traps. Some part of our ”self” is always comparing, judging, or making us think about the results that will come from some level of performance rather than paying attention to the process. But that's a distraction, a subtraction from the 100% focus and concentration necessary to best performance. The zen trick is to recognize and quickly dispatch those judgmental or ego driven thoughts, so you can focus on the road unfolding and how it feels to carve the bike through it.When do ego, conceit, over-confidence and/or recklessness take a back-seat to common sense, a healthy fear and self-preservation when riding a high performance sport touring machine?
Smooth is good and smooth allows, or is, fast and safe. Smooth comes from focusing on the bike and the path. The issues in that true performance thinking are throttle control, transitions from one direction to another, brake control (grabbing and releasing), shifting and gear/throttle synchronization, looking where you want to go. If you think about it, or worse, if you think about extraneous judgmental stuff, you lose part of your innate ability to perform, since you have subtracted concentration.
That's my long winded way of getting to the next question, which is the important one, IMO:
When it doesn’t FEEL smooth or controlled, when it FEELS forced. Hopefully, we are all experienced enough to know what it feels like to be in control, effortlessly snaking the bike through corners on the line we intend, even if it isn’t close to MotoGP pace. When it doesn’t feel like that, then you are probably over your head. That lack of feel is what makes us tighten our sphincters and start searching for what we need to do next – all subtracting more concentration. But we’re going too fast to be able to afford giving up even 5% of our available concentration.How do you know if you are pushing too hard and when do you have the common sense to let go of ego and ride within your personal skill level?
However you recognize it, whether you feel like what you’re doing is dangerous or you just don’t feel the comfortable rhythm you know can exist, then slow down and get back to what feels good. Get back to controlling the bike smoothly, and not to worrying about where you are in the formation or whether you’re showing off good skills. You aren’t at that point. Don’t go down and prove it with an exclamation point. To me, that is the essence of what it means to “ride your own ride.”
Too many react by parking it in the corners (because the pace is too great to smoothly take your skills through at an even speed) and then use the throttle to catch up. We've all done it, but if you catch yourself doing that, it’s a sign. I’ve had some serious wake up calls before, too. Like narrowly missing the edge of the pavement when leaned over – it’s a wake up call, you got lucky that time – SLOW DOWN!! Maybe it’s just fatigue or dehydration and you’re better on a different day, or maybe it’s trying too hard to follow faster riders – doesn’t matter, if you get a wake up call, SLOW DOWN and reestablish what feels comfortable. You don’t need a second one you might not escape. There are all kinds of wake up calls, but that fearful tightening of body parts is usually one very reliable one. Heed it. And if you have someone on board and don’t heed it – shame on you.
Unequivocally, YES! It’s a whole stewing set of temptations to get into that judgmental, left brain comparison crap, to let your ego loose or your subconscious fear of not measuring up push you. In our culture, we tend to be competitive. Add testosterone and any kind of reputation, perceived stature or statement to have to prove up, and it’s magnified. That’s not a good starting point, especially when fatigue, dehydration, low blood sugar, heat or other emotions are added to the equation.Do group rides have the unintended effect of causing you to ride at a level that is unsafe for you and others?
The plain unavoidable fact is that there are better and lesser skilled riders. What we need to truly “GET” is that it doesn’t matter over beers at the motel later. What matters is that we each experienced the same things (even if some were at greater speeds than others) and can share them with one another.
A very accomplished extreme skier friend that I used to go ski mountaineering with ALWAYS said this when we started up the mountain away from the cars: “Remember, the object is to get back to the cars. If you have to make a descent instead of ripping something, make the descent. Your first obligation is to get back to the cars.”As the person who organized the ride, should I try to influence those who want to ride excessively fast to slow down for others or is that an unrealistic expectation?
That’s about the best and most leader-like thing I’ve ever heard in a similar situation. You can’t be responsible for others who will not exercise common sense or cannot reign in their egos or machismo (but you can decide not to ride or go into the back country with them). We all end up making our own decisions and need to be responsible for them. Those decisions are many and varied. If I think there might be a problem, I either won’t go on the ride, or I drop back and ride sweep way back.
Sorry -- don’t mean to pontificate. It’s a LOT easier said than lived up to and requires constant effort. No one likes to see friends get hurt or to be the one it happens to. Zen is about getting out of our own way so that we can perform, and probably also about keeping our egos from causing us harm.
My 2 cents . . . borne of procrastinating at work. :huh:
Oh, sorry. I thought I was somebody else for a minute there....
